A Crown Left Behind

I am Aria Vittori, the beloved younger sister of Lorenzo Vittori, Don of the Vittori family. I have three childhood friends who grew up with me. Matteo oversees the family’s security and enforcement. Dante is Lorenzo’s second-in-command. Adrian manages the Vittori family’s finances and investments. The three of them grew up around me, and once, all three swore that as long as they were alive, no one would ever hurt me. Dante once cleared an entire rooftop club because I wanted to watch the harbor fireworks. Adrian bought me a blue diamond brooch after I glanced at it twice at an auction. Matteo carried me through a locked-down dock road on a freezing winter night because I refused to get in the car. Back then, I thought one of them would belong to me someday. Then Serena came to the Vittori family. She was beautiful, dangerous, and impossible to look away from. On her first day at the negotiation table, she smiled as she drew the edge of a playing card across an enemy’s throat. After that, everything changed. Dante started calling me spoiled. When he left me standing alone in the rain to walk Serena home, Matteo and Adrian warned him, “Dante, if you choose her now, don’t regret it later.” But soon, Matteo fell for her too. At my birthday party, I turned to Adrian, the only man still standing beside me. “Adrian, is this my fault?” He kissed my hair. “Don’t think like that. Those two are idiots.” Then I watched him pin the blue diamond brooch he had promised me onto Serena’s gown. Just to make her smile. That was when I finally understood. I was the one who had to leave. I knocked on my brother’s study door. “The Vescari family’s exchange arrangement begins in three days, right?” Lorenzo looked up. I said, “Send me.” Chapter 1 “You volunteered for Vescari?” Lorenzo dragged me into his study and shut the door behind us, his face dark enough to frighten anyone else. “Aria, are you insane?” He stared at me, his voice pressed low. “Blackharbor is not an ordinary city. The Vescari family controls the northern weapons routes. Any woman who goes into that house becomes part of the agreement. Once they take you, it will be almost impossible for you to come back.” His gaze fell on me again, filled with more worry than anger. “Every unmarried girl in Vittori is praying she won’t be chosen, and you’re handing them your name?” I lowered my head and clenched my skirt until the fabric wrinkled under my fingers. The Vescari family had several unmarried heirs and had long brought women into Blackharbor through exchange marriages. They rarely sent anyone south in return. They were colder than the East Coast, harder, and far more used to holding tightly onto anything they claimed. No woman wanted to trap her whole life in Blackharbor, under Vescari rules. The contract guaranteed the selected woman’s physical safety under Vescari law, but not her freedom. Once she signed willingly, Lorenzo could cancel the agreement only by declaring war. Lorenzo’s face turned completely grim. “Did they hurt you again?” His voice dropped. “Dante? Matteo? Adrian?” He turned toward the door, and I hurried after him, grabbing his arm. “Don’t go, Lorenzo. Please.” Only after the words left my mouth did I realize I was shaking. It was useless anyway. When Dante and Matteo first pulled away from me because of Serena, I had cried to Lorenzo too. Serena had not even been in Vittori for a month, yet the two men who once guarded every step I took were already circling her. I still remembered the way Matteo looked at me that night, cold and impatient, as if I were nothing more than a spoiled problem. “Aria, can you stop acting like the entire family should revolve around you?” Dante stood beside him with his arms crossed, his voice sharper than Matteo’s. “Serena did nothing wrong. You just can’t stand not being the center anymore, so you tried to drive her out. Without Lorenzo protecting you, what do you even have left?” His mouth twisted slightly. “I can’t believe I ever wanted you.” Those words cut deeper than any knife. That night, I cried in the only arms still willing to hold me, Adrian’s, until I could barely breathe. He stroked my hair and told me Dante and Matteo would regret it one day. But now even Adrian no longer wanted me. The study stayed quiet for a long time. Lorenzo finally exhaled and forced his anger down. “You are my only sister.” His voice lowered. “I can’t send you that far away and still have peace.” He touched my face, his hand much gentler than the fury he had shown moments before. “But I can’t keep watching you stay here while they wear you down piece by piece.” In three days, the Vescari delegation would arrive on the East Coast. Once I signed my name, they would take me north before the first winter storm sealed the harbor. “Think it through,” Lorenzo said. “When you’re truly decided, come back to me.” I nodded and swallowed back my tears. The moment I stepped out of the study, I saw Adrian. Rain swept beneath the covered corridor, darkening the stone floor around him. He stood beside one of the pillars, shielding a silver watch beneath his palm. I recognized it at once. At a recent charity auction, Serena had bought the watch on a whim and handed it to him before leaving the table. It was an ordinary piece, worth far less than the watches Adrian usually wore, but he had kept it on ever since. Now he was covering it carefully, keeping even a few drops of rain from touching the glass. When he saw me, that old soft smile returned to his face. “Aria?” I wiped away my tears and walked past him. “Wait.” He followed me. “Where are you going?” I did not stop. My throat hurt too much for me to say a word. After a few seconds, his footsteps stopped. I slowed too and looked back. Adrian stood at the end of the corridor, still holding one hand over the watch while rain fell beyond the stone arches. In that moment, it felt as if something had cut straight through my chest, leaving me almost unable to breathe. “Adrian.” My voice shook badly. “Is that why you came to find me?” Several maids and guards nearby turned to look. He did not move. Fine. Then I would go to him. I had always been like this. When they stopped, I walked toward them first. When they stayed silent, I lowered my head first. When they frowned, I rushed to prove I was not as terrible as they thought. I bit my lip and took one step toward him. But his voice reached me first, almost gentle, yet leaving no room for hope. “No, Aria. I came to tell you that from now on, I won’t be handling your accounts, investment meetings, or travel arrangements anymore.” I stopped where I was. Adrian lowered his sleeve over the watch and turned toward Serena’s room. He did not even wait for my answer. Chapter 2 I went back to my room alone. The private line Adrian had installed for me was still lit on the bedside table. Months ago, he had told me that as long as I pressed that silver button, he would come no matter where he was. I pressed it. The light blinked quietly in the dark, but no one answered. Cold air slipped through the half-open window, and I sneezed into my hand. In the past, all I had to do was frown, and one of them would notice. Dante would call me spoiled while handing me whatever I needed. Matteo would tear into the guards, then carry me away himself. Adrian was always the gentle one, brushing my hair back and telling me not to cry. Tonight, the room stayed empty. I stared at that unanswered light until the silence became unbearable. Then I grabbed my coat and ran out. The rain had not stopped. The stone path behind the estate was slick, and I crossed the back corridor too quickly, scraping my knee on the steps and tearing my skirt on the iron railing. By the time I reached the east guest house, I was soaked through and shaking. I knew Adrian was there. After Serena came to Vittori, Lorenzo gave her the guest house once reserved for important allies. The carpets, curtains, and security system had all been replaced. Even the guards at her door stood in a tighter formation than the men outside my wing. I knocked with trembling fingers, but when the door opened, Dante stood inside. His gaze dropped from my face to my bleeding knee and rain-soaked hair. Something moved in his eyes for one brief second before he buried it under coldness. “What are you doing here?” Dante had been the first man to come to my side. He was sharp-tongued, proud, and impossible to please, even when he still protected me. “Aria, can you stop running around like a child?” “Do you ever think before making trouble?” His words were always harsh, but whenever I turned back, he was there. He handled the people who should never have reached me, climbed through my window when I cried too hard to breathe, threw tissues into my lap, and kissed my forehead like he hated himself for being soft. I looked past him into the guest house. Dante understood at once that I had not come for him. His hand tightened on the doorframe before he gave a cold laugh. “Adrian,” he called without looking back, making sure I heard every word. “Did you fail counter-surveillance training? She tracked you all the way here.” His eyes cut back to me. “What are you going to tell Serena if she finds out?” Wind pushed through the corridor. I had left in such a hurry that my coat hung open, and the cold sank through my wet dress. Adrian came out soon after. His shirt was half buttoned, his hair slightly disordered, and near his collar was a faint red mark. My stomach twisted. He glanced at Dante first, displeased by the cruelty, then turned to me. In that short moment, I saw impatience before his face softened into the familiar gentleness I knew too well. I stepped back. Something warm settled over my shoulders. Dante had placed his coat on me without a word. Adrian came closer. “Aria, what happened?” My throat hurt. “Adrian, I won’t make trouble anymore.” Once I started, the words would not stop. “I won’t ask you to leave negotiations just to take me to the harbor at midnight. I won’t complain about the security detail. I won’t keep calling when you’re busy. I can learn to behave. I won’t make things difficult for you.” Dante went quiet beside me. I did not look at him. I only looked at Adrian. “I just want you. If you’re still here, that’s enough. Please don’t leave me alone.” Adrian did not answer right away. His eyes moved to my bloodied knee, and the slight crease in his brow made me reach for his hand as if that old concern could still save me. “You said you would always stay with me. You can’t lie to me.” My fingers touched nothing. He avoided me with a movement so light it almost seemed kind, but the distance between us had already said enough. Rain beat harder against the windows. Adrian looked down at me, his voice still gentle. “You’re freezing. Come inside first, and I’ll have someone treat the wound.” He paused. “We can talk after that.” Chapter 3 The guest house was warm. Since Serena moved in, the carpets, curtains, and security lines had all been replaced. Even the medical kit beside the fireplace had been fully stocked. In my own room, the flowers in the crystal vase had been dead for days. Dante, Matteo, and Adrian used to argue over who would replace them first. Now no one had noticed. A hot drink sat on a silver tray brought by the staff, the rim of the cup spotless. I sat near the sofa, the blood on my knees already dried, while the chill under my clothes refused to fade. Adrian’s care was clearly still there. It had simply been given to someone else. Dante’s voice came from the next room, lazy and edged. “What, feeling soft now? If you regret it, then coax Aria back properly. Don’t stand guard over Serena while refusing to let go.” My hand slowly tightened against the side of the sofa. Adrian answered quickly, his tone calm enough to leave no ripple. “I don’t regret it.” He said, “I just can’t let her run to Lorenzo and cry. Serena finally has a place in Vittori. She can’t be driven out again because of her.” Dante gave a low laugh. “You really do know how easy she is to coax.” “She has always been like that.” Adrian’s voice was light, almost like he was discussing an investment. “Give her a little patience, sit with her for a few minutes, and she’ll think everything can go back to the way it was.” As those words fell, even my breathing turned quiet. So the tenderness he had once given me was only his way of managing a problem. Footsteps approached. Adrian came out of the next room and crouched in front of me, wiping the blood from my knees with cotton. His touch was still careful, his voice still gentle. “Aria, from now on, I’ll stand with Serena.” “She has no foundation here, and she has a child with her. The people in Vittori may seem to accept her, but they’re all waiting for her to make a mistake.” He looked up at me. “You’re different. You’re Lorenzo’s sister. If you want something, you can have anything.” I had said things like that before. When I was angry, I had said I would throw them all out, and that one day I would find someone better than all of them. But they knew those were only words from a tantrum. Before, they would laugh and coax me. Now Adrian used them as his reason to leave. “I never meant that.” Just then, a boy rushed out from the end of the corridor, clutching the coffee pot from the silver tray. “Bad woman! Don’t bully my mom!” Scalding coffee flew toward me. I raised my arm to block it, and the liquid splashed over my arm and shoulder, the pain turning my vision black for a second. A few drops landed on the boy’s hand, and he burst into tears at once. The next second, the door was shoved open. Matteo rushed in. Without seeing what had happened, he locked a hand around my throat and forced me back into the sofa. His eyes looked murderous. “Hurting Serena wasn’t enough?” “Now you’re going after her adopted son too?” I gripped his wrist as the pressure crushed the air from my chest, but I could not move him at all. Matteo was the strongest fighter in Vittori. Years ago, when I wanted the championship prize from an underground boxing match, he fought through every round until his knuckles split and blood covered his ribs. After the final bell, he lifted me into his arms and carried me into the ring so I could claim the prize myself. He had also taken a bullet meant for me without hesitation. Now that same hand was crushing my throat, and the man who had once bled for me looked at me as if I were someone he wished he had never protected. Matteo gritted out, “Aria, I’m truly done with you.” Chapter 4 Matteo’s hatred had not come from nowhere. After I cried to Lorenzo that time, Vittori’s internal meeting nearly sent Serena away. Her background was unclear, and she had brought a child with her. Many in the family had never wanted her to stay. The next morning, Matteo volunteered for the northern weapons transfer. That route crossed the buffer zone between two rival families. Winter blocked the roads, ambushes were constant, and even Lorenzo rarely sent core men there. Matteo went himself, using a near-death assignment to buy Serena and her child a place in Vittori. Before he left, he looked at me with eyes cold enough to burn. “Aria, I must have been blind to ever put you first.” I could not understand it then. They had left me first, broken every promise first, yet somehow they looked at me as if I were the unforgivable one. Now his hand was locked around my throat. My chest tightened from the lack of air, and the lights began to blur. I stopped struggling and looked directly at him. There was no anger left in my eyes, only a hollow despair that made Matteo’s grip falter. For one brief second, shock crossed his face, as if he had finally recognized the girl beneath his hand. That was when Adrian’s voice cut in. “Matteo!” The sound dragged Matteo back. He released me sharply, and I fell into the sofa, coughing until I could barely breathe. Adrian took one step toward me. I saw it and, stupidly, still felt a flicker of hope. Then the inner door opened. Serena stood there in a loose coat, clearly woken by the noise. Her eyes landed on Adrian, and the step he had just taken stopped. A moment later, he pushed me lightly away from him. It was not hard, but it was clear enough. My shoulder struck the edge of the sofa, and the burn on my back scraped against the fabric so badly my breath caught. Dante had also moved half a step forward. When he saw Serena, his fingers tightened once, then loosened. In the end, he stopped by the door. Matteo looked between them and gave a low laugh. “Interesting.” He turned to Adrian, his voice thick with mockery. “You used to be the one always saying you’d protect Aria for life. Now you’re standing guard here for Serena too?” Adrian did not answer. Matteo glanced at Dante, his smile colder. “Looks like the three of us really do have the same taste. We all ended up wanting the same woman.” I looked at Adrian, waiting for him to explain, to defend me, or at least to tell Matteo to stop. He avoided my eyes, and the last bit of expectation went out like a spark in the rain. Serena frowned, her gaze falling to my shoulder and back. “Your burn…” Only then did they notice the skin reddened by the coffee. The room fell quiet. Even the boy slowly stopped crying, though he clutched Serena’s clothes harder. Serena lowered her head and soothed him before looking back at me. “He’s still little. He was scared. I’ll apologize for him. The salve Adrian brought is still here. Let me treat it.” I braced myself against the sofa and sat up, my voice hoarse. “Let him apologize himself.” Serena’s expression cooled. “Aria, he’s only a child.” “Apologize.” Matteo’s anger came down at once. He stepped in front of Serena and the boy, disgust clear in his eyes. “Serena already apologized for him. What else do you want? For a child to kneel and beg?” Dante said nothing. Adrian did not speak either. One stood dark-faced by the door, the other watched me as if waiting for me to back down. The men who used to stand in front of me now stood in front of Serena and her child. Serena bent and whispered into the boy’s ear. After a while, he turned his face toward me, mouth pushed into a pout, his voice almost too quiet to hear. “Sorry.” The apology was reluctant and wronged, as if he were the one being bullied. Serena looked at me, her tone flattening too. “He apologized. Can I treat your burn now?” I did not answer. Rain was still falling, and wind pushed in from the end of the corridor. I took Dante’s coat from my shoulders, set it on the chair beside me, and forced myself to stand with one hand on the doorframe. Every movement pulled at the burn across my back, but I stepped into the rain without slowing. Chapter 5 “You’ve really decided to go to Vescari?” Lorenzo asked it quietly. I sat across from him in his study, the burn on my back aching, my knee wrapped in gauze. After leaving Serena’s guest house, I had locked myself in my room for two days. The meals outside my door went cold untouched. “The Vescari men are already in the city.” His eyes were red. “Once your name is submitted, the marriage contract takes effect. If you regret this, there is still time.” I tried to smile. “There’s nothing to regret.” Lorenzo’s throat moved. At last, he pushed the papers across the desk. “Then you leave tonight. Blackharbor’s winter storms can close the harbor any day. They won’t wait until the third day. The public list will still be announced tomorrow, but the storm has forced Vescari to move the convoy forward.” I signed my name. In the quiet room, the scrape of the pen sounded almost cruel. Before every Vescari selection, no unmarried woman on the East Coast slept well. Blackharbor was too far, too cold, and too hard to escape. Women who entered that house rarely left by choice. By evening, everyone knew I had gone to Lorenzo myself. So they came. Matteo was the first to enter, anger heavy on his face. “Aria, what did you say to Lorenzo this time?” Adrian followed. His eyes swept over my half-packed suitcase, the documents, and the old wooden box by my bed. His gaze paused on the suitcase, but Matteo’s accusation came first, and none of them asked why it was open. Dante came in last and stayed by the door, watching me in silence. Once, I would have rushed to explain. Now I only put my medicine and papers into the suitcase. Matteo’s voice dropped. “Are you trying to send Serena to Vescari in your place?” I closed the suitcase and looked up. “What do you think?” His expression changed. Adrian stepped closer, his voice soft in that familiar way. “Aria, tell us clearly. What did you ask Lorenzo for?” I looked at him for a long moment. If I told them I was leaving, would they believe me? If they knew tonight was my last night in Vittori, would anyone ask me to stay? The answer came too quickly. “You guessed right.” The room went cold. I stood with one hand on the desk. “I’m jealous of Serena, and I hate her. She took all of you from me, so of course I want her gone.” Adrian frowned. “Aria…” I cut him off. “I begged Lorenzo to put her name on the marriage list. As long as she stays here, I’ll keep making trouble and tearing Vittori apart.” Matteo’s eyes turned sharp. “You wouldn’t dare.” “Why not?” I gave a small laugh. “Lorenzo has spoiled me since I was a child. Isn’t that what you always say? I’m selfish, willful, and I think I can do anything because my brother protects me.” Dante finally spoke. “Lorenzo won’t send Serena to Blackharbor just because you asked.” I looked at him and kept my voice steady. “Then wait for tomorrow.” They stared at me as if I had become exactly what they believed I was. Matteo left first, slamming the door. Adrian followed after a short silence. Dante was the last to go. His gaze paused on my suitcase, as if he wanted to say something, but he only turned away. When their footsteps disappeared, I opened the old wooden box. Inside were the things they had once given me: Dante’s cufflinks, Matteo’s silver dagger, and the small key Adrian had said belonged to a house he would one day give me. I closed the box and left all of it behind. Downstairs, Lorenzo waited beside a black sedan in the rain. He put a heavy coat over my shoulders and handed me a packed bag. “Medicine, documents, cash, and a new phone,” he said hoarsely. “When you reach Blackharbor, don’t endure everything alone. If anyone hurts you, call me. However far it is, I’ll come get you.” I nodded and held the bag tight. Before getting into the car, I looked back at Vittori once. The training ground lights were still on. The docks were dark under the rain, while Serena’s guest house glowed warmly, as if everyone had gathered there. I did not look again. Lorenzo closed the door. The car drove out of the estate, and the wipers cut the place where I had grown up into broken shadows. Soon, they would know whose name was on the list.